The museum being built at the site of ground zero will display photos of the 19 men who hijacked the four airliners on September 11, 2001, and may also include printed quotations from the so-called martyr videos they made before the attacks, in an effort to “create an accurate historical record,” the museum’s president said on Friday.
The images of each hijacker will be roughly 4 inches wide and 6 inches tall, and mounted on a wall of the underground museum’s primary exhibition. The museum is exploring the idea of displaying some quotations next to the pictures, but no final decision has been made, and no text has been selected, said Joseph C. Daniels, president and chief executive of the National September 11 Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Centre.
“We will not, and we do not, want to hide the truth of what happened, and identifying those who did it is core to that,” said Mr. Daniels. He added: “It answers the question of who did this. Let’s show the world the 19 individuals who boarded planes and murdered so many. To not do that would be a major disservice to the public.”
Mr. Daniels first discussed the hijackers display on Thursday, at a news conference focusing on the museum’s design. Mr. Daniels said media reports that stated that visitors could view the videos were false, and that there were never any plans to allow visitors to play back the videos. He said it was too early to say how any image of Osama bin Laden would be presented, but it was “a fair assumption” that one would be used.
“This project will be doing a real disservice if people don’t leave this museum with a clear understanding of who committed these atrocities,” said Mr. Daniels.
In a statement, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, the chairman of the board of directors for the museum and memorial, expressed his support for the planned display. “One of our key missions is to preserve the history of what happened on that horrible day eight years ago and tell the truth to future generations,” said the Mayor. “Nobody who visits the Holocaust museum on the National Mall comes away thinking it glorifies Hitler, and that’s because it tells the truth about Nazi depravity instead of not addressing the issue.”
